Scaling Deployments of

Oracle BI Enterprise Edition

Quick Start Guide

This guide explains how to scale your deployment of Oracle Business Intelligence across the same or
multiple computers. It describes how to set up shared files and directories and how to use Fusion
Middleware Control to scale system components.
For more detailed information about these and other tasks, see the Oracle BI EE documentation on Oracle
Technology Network.

Understanding Scaling
You can expand or reduce the capacity of the system by
adjusting the number of processes that are available to the
cluster. A cluster consists of multiple server instances that run
simultaneously and work together to provide increased
scalability and reliability. Scaling is the process of expanding
or reducing the capacity of the system by changing the number
of processes that are available to service requests from Oracle
Business Intelligence clients. Scaling is also a critical part of
configuring a deployment for high availability.

You can:
Scale horizontally, which involves adding more computers
to the environment.
Scale vertically, which involves adding more Oracle
Business Intelligence components to the same computer,
to make increased use of the hardware resources on that
computer.
Scale both Oracle Business Intelligence Java components
and system components.

Determining When to Scale and What Processes to Scale

Use these guidelines to determine when to scale and what
processes to scale:
Scale out system components and Managed Servers based
on observed load. You can have zero or more of each
component type on a given computer in the deployment.
Use the performance metrics that are provided in Fusion
Middleware Control to monitor process state and to
determine when you must increase capacity to improve
performance.
Note: You do not need to scale any configured HTTP
servers along with either the Managed Servers or system
components. HTTP server configuration is independent of
the number of processes that you run.

Do not remove individual Java components, because many

perform essential services for the system. Keep a full set
of Java components on each Managed Server. Any unused
components should not have a significant performance
impact.
Ensure that you run one Managed Server on each
computer in the deployment. The Oracle Business
Intelligence installer automatically provisions one Managed
Server. Do not disable or remove it. It is not necessary to
run multiple Managed Servers on a given computer.

Scaling Out Vertically and Horizontally

Task Summary for Vertical Scale-Out
Configure shared files and directories for the Oracle BI
repository, Oracle BI Presentation Catalog, and global
cache (described in this guide)
Scale out the necessary Oracle Business Intelligence
system components (described in this guide)

Task Summary for Horizontal Scale-Out

Configure shared files and directories for the Oracle BI
repository, Oracle BI Presentation Catalog, and global
cache (described in this guide)
Run the Oracle Business Intelligence installer on the new
host and select the Enterprise Install option (described in
"Enterprise Install to Scale Out Existing Installations" in

Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Guide for Oracle

Business Intelligence)
Scale out the Oracle Business Intelligence system
components on the new host (described in this guide)

Configure an HTTP server with a load balancer to

distribute requests across multiple Managed Servers
(described in Oracle Fusion Middleware Using Web Server
Plug-Ins with Oracle WebLogic Server and "Load
Balancing in a Cluster" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Using
Clusters for Oracle WebLogic Server)

Configuring Shared Files and Directories

When you have multiple instances of a given Oracle Business
Intelligence component, you can share certain files and
directories on a shared storage device (such as NAS or SAN)
to simplify management of your system. It is recommended
that you host the Oracle BI repository (RPD file), Oracle BI
Presentation Catalog, and global cache on shared storage
before you scale out Oracle Business Intelligence
components.

To configure shared files and directores, you:

Ensure that shared network files are accessible in
Windows environments
Upload and share the Oracle BI repository
Share the Oracle BI Presentation Catalog
Set up the global cache

Ensuring that Shared Network Files Are Accessible in Windows Environments

In Windows environments, shared storage is typically specified
using Universal Naming Convention (UNC). UNC is a PC format
for specifying locations of resources on a local area network.
UNC uses the following format:
\\server_name\shared_resource_path_name
In addition, you must use named users to run OPMN processes
in Windows environments so that the shared network files are
accessible.

To run OPMN processes using a named user:

1.

Open the Services dialog. For example, select Start,

Programs, Administrative Tools, Services.

2.

Right-click OracleProcessManager_instancen and

select Properties.

3.

Select the Log On tab.

4.

Select This account and enter the user name and

password.

5.

Click OK.

Uploading and Sharing the Oracle BI Repository

It is recommended that you configure a repository publishing
directory so that the repository can be shared by all Oracle BI
Servers participating in a cluster. This directory holds the
master copies of repositories that are edited in online mode.
The clustered Oracle BI Servers examine this directory upon
startup for any repository changes.

1.

Create a shared directory for the repository publishing

directory. The Master BI Server must have read and write
access to this directory. All other Oracle BI Servers must
have read access.

2.

Use the Repository tab of the Deployment page in Fusion

Middleware Control (see below) to designate the shared
location for the Oracle BI repository. For more
information, see Modifying Commonly Changed Settings in
Oracle BI Enterprise Edition Quick Start Guide.

Sharing the Oracle BI Presentation Catalog

It is recommended that you configure a shared directory for
the Oracle BI Presentation Catalog so that it can be shared by
all Presentation Services components in a cluster. Because the
Oracle BI Presentation Catalog consists of a large number of
heavily accessed small files, there are two important
considerations for the shared file system:
File Limits: The Oracle BI Presentation Catalog can
consist of thousands of files. In some cases, this might
exceed file limits for shared file systems. Check the
storage vendor documentation for instructions on
extending the file limit.

1.

Create a network share for the Oracle BI Presentation Catalog.

All Presentation Services components in the cluster must have
read and write access to this share.

2.

Place the catalog on the network share.

3.

Use the Repository tab of the Deployment page in Fusion

Middleware Control to change the location of the Oracle BI
Presentation Catalog to the shared location. For more
information, see Modifying Commonly Changed Settings in
Oracle BI Enterprise Edition Quick Start Guide.

Snapshots: Backup activity such as snapshots might

affect the performance of Oracle BI Presentation Catalog
files, which are small, dynamic files. Ensure snapshot
activity is at a reasonable level that maximizes
performance without impacting availability.

Configuring the Global Cache

The global cache is a query cache that is shared by all Oracle
BI Servers participating in a cluster.
It is recommended that you configure the global cache so that
cache seeding and purging events can be shared by all Oracle
BI Servers participating in a cluster.

1.
2.

Create a shared directory for the global cache. All Oracle

BI Servers must have read and write access to this
directory.
Use the Performance tab of the Capacity Management
page in Fusion Middleware Control to set the Global
cache path and Global cache size options. For more
information, see Monitoring and Optimizing Performance
of Oracle BI Enterprise Edition Quick Start Guide.

Scaling System Components Using Fusion Middleware Control

You can scale the system components both vertically (on the
same computer) or horizontally (on multiple computers).

5.

Keep in mind that the number of servers and hosts that you
define has an impact on the amount of disk space that is
required for the Oracle Business Intelligence installation.
Ensure that you monitor the disk space on the systems when
scaling out the environment. Additional log file activity also
results when you scale out the environment.

Typically, you can keep the default port range. If

necessary, enter a different range of ports available using
the Port Range From and Port Range To arrows, or
enter a value directly.

To scale Oracle Business Intelligence system components:

1.

Start Fusion Middleware Control and go to the Business

Intelligence Overview page.

2.

Display the Scalability tab of the Capacity Management

page.

A default port range is assigned automatically for use by

the components within the given Oracle instance. Note
that Oracle BI Scheduler and Cluster Controller component
processes in this instance are also assigned ports within
this range, in addition to the BI Server, Presentation
Services, and JavaHost component processes.

6.

Optionally, for Listen Address, you can enter the DNS

name or IP address for the components in the given
Oracle instance to use to listen for incoming connections.
Typically, you can keep this element blank (the default
value) to indicate that the components are to listen on all
available local interfaces.

To find out more about the settings on this page, click the
Help button.
3.

Click Lock and Edit Configuration.

7.

Click Apply, then click Activate Changes.

4.

Change the number of BI Servers, Presentation

Servers, or JavaHosts using the arrow keys.

8.

Return to the Business Intelligence Overview page and

click Restart.

If you have just scaled out the Oracle BI system on a new

host using the Enterprise Install option or the
Configuration Assistant, then the number of system
components initially configured on that host is zero. Add
system components on the new host to complete the
horizontal scale-out operation.

The changes are automatically written to the corresponding

configuration files, and the new processes join the cluster.

To vertically scale the system components, increment the

number of each component to be greater than 0 for a
given host.

Copyright 2013, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

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